I live in the American midwest, a place where many believe spanking to be firmly a thing of the past. From my own circle, I know that not to be the case – but it is true to say that spanking does tend to be something which is now firmly confined to being a private matter between parent and child, and I’ll bet there are many parents out there who give the odd sore bottom but wouldn’t admit it in front of friends for fear of being thought a monster.
So, all this background made for a rather more startling experience when I had an encounter with parental discipline in a local car park recently. It was one of those lots where you need a ticket, so I grabbed a handful of change out of the cubby in my car and strolled over to the machine.